Page 120 - January 20 2012

The Millie I Knew
by Sharon Greene Brandsness
Millie Vessels would be cheering abun- dantly about the List girls, Dawn and Rhonda, receiving this year’s Millie
Vessels Award in honor of their outstanding achievements not only during the past year in racing, but ever since they took over the owner- ship and management of the Double Bar S Ranch in California, after their father’s passing. Heck, she would cheer all of the women who have been honored in her name during the past years since the award was established.
Millie knew very well the challenges women in our industry face. She was consid- ered an astute businesswoman who single- handedly ran the Vessels family-owned Los Alamitos Race Course, as well as Vessels
Stallion Farm, after the death of her husband, Frank Vessels, Jr. in 1973.
I came up with the idea of recommending
an AQHA racing award in Millie’s name shortly after Millie died in 1992, to honor a woman (or women) in Quarter Horse racing. Millie was a friend—one I had great admiration for, and one who shared her stories about what it was like being a woman in a male-dominated industry. This is not to say she didn’t have tremendous admiration and respect for the men in her busi- ness, as she had great respect and admiration for many of them. She had broken through the glass ceiling, but not without a lot of pain, along with heartache, pride, determination, tenacity and just plain true grit.
118 SPEEDHORSE, January 20, 2012
Sharon Brandsness, Scott Anderson and Millie Vessels.
Millie knew very well t he challenges women in our industry face.
Millie recommended I be appointed to the AQHA Racing Committee back in the very early ‘80s, making me the second female to be appointed to the 80-some member commit- tee. She was the first. I had been appointed by our governor to be Chairman of the Nevada Racing Commission. At that time, I was the first female to hold the position of chairman
of any racing commission (only in a small state could that have ever happened!) and Millie
was very proud of me. I took the honor very seriously, and when I told her I needed to know a lot more about horse racing than just owning them, she opened Los Alamitos to me. I spent many nights in the stewards’ stand, mornings in the racing office and on the track, in the
Mildred W. Vessels.